PSABISOMUS. 289 



nest, is composed of broad flags, bamboo-spathes, and the like, and 

 inside this, at the bottom of the cavity, is a lining of soft grass. 



The eggs of this species are very gracefully shaped, elongated 

 ovals, rather pointed towards the small end. The shell is extremely 

 tine, fragile, and delicate, but has little or no gloss. In colour 

 these eggs are a very pale yellow, a creamy or ivory-yellow in most 

 specimens, but in some few with a faint maize shade. All my 

 eggs are perfectly spotless and uniform in tint throughout. Six 

 eggs measure 1-05 to 1-21 in length, by 0-74 to 0-82 in breadth. 



Psarisomus dalhousiae (Jameson). The Long-tailed 

 Broadbill. 



Psarisomus dalhousise (Jameson), Jerd. B. 2nd. i, p. 236 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. $ E. no. 138. 



On the breeding of the Long-tailed Broadbill, Dr. Jerdon says : 

 " The nest and eggs were once brought me (at Darjeeling). The 

 former was a large structure of moss and grasses loosely put 

 together, and was said to have been placed in the hole of a tree. 

 The opening of the nest had apparently been at the side, but it 

 was so much damaged by being pulled out of the hole, and was so 

 little coherent that I could not exactly ascertain this point. The 

 eggs were two in number, and white." 



Mr. Hodgson gives a different account ; from his notes it appears 

 that this species begins to lay in April, the young being ready to 

 fly in June or July. The nest, which he also figures, is described 

 as suspended from a tree, composed of fine roots and creepers, in 

 which leaves are largely intermingled ; in the side, about the 

 centre, is a circular aperture which is protected by a sort of 

 hanging portico or curtain of leaves ; the lining is said to be of 

 grass, roots, and dry bamboo-leaves. The nest is drawn as of a very 

 regular egg-shape, the smaller end only, from which it is suspended, 

 being drawn out to a point. The greatest length is nearly nine 

 inches, the breadth five, the diameter of the aperture barely two ; 

 the drawing of the nest shows that it is very compactly woven, 

 exteriorly with roots and fibres. It is noted that they lay three to 

 four eggs, breed only once a year, and that both the male and 

 female assist in rearing the young. The egg is figured as pure 

 white, a rather broad oval, decidedly pointed towards the smaU 

 end, measuring I'l by 0'75 inch. 



Colonel GK F. L. Marshall writes to me that on the 16th of June 

 he killed a female of this species at INynee Tal, at an elevation of 

 about 5000 feet above the sea. The oviduct contained an egg, nearly 

 ready for expulsion, white, and with no indications of coloration 

 or markings. 



From. Sikhim Mr. Garnmie writes : " I took a nest of this 

 Broadbill, out of which the female rose, on the 20th April, at about 

 2500 feet elevation. In was suspended from the frond of a slender 

 tree-fern, which had to be cut down before the nest could be 



YOL. II. 19 



